


Neighbourly Disputes

by cuddlebros



Series: Neighbourly Disputes [1]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M, Very little romance, no really its mostly them arguing and kagami being flustered
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-22
Updated: 2014-07-22
Packaged: 2018-02-10 00:16:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2003502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlebros/pseuds/cuddlebros
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kagami is ever courteous, and just wants to live in peace. His neighbor, he finds, is not, and couldn't care less about keeping the peace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Neighbourly Disputes

**Author's Note:**

> Will be cross posted on deviantart under the same title and account name.

He may have been a basketball player, an imposing figure of a guy, and a little rough around the edges, but Kagami had never been discourteous.

So for him, this was verging on ridiculous. He was convinced that if things didn't change soon, something was going to be on the receiving end of his fist, and that was not somewhere that that something would want to be.

Growing up, Kagami had been taught that neatness should be second nature. That he should practice it wherever he went, whether that was America with his parents or Japan on his own. He had found that Japan had kept him in good habits, regarding neatness and consideration for others. He had expected, then, when he had moved back to America, that other people would have this same mentality. He had been wrong.

Ever since he had moved into this apartment complex, he had been growing steadily more irritated at the fact that his neighbours - the ones to his left in particular - had no sense of tidiness, or consideration for others in general. Their trash was always left haphazardly outside their door, their apartment seemed to just _leak_ insects, and they didn't even have any sense of flow when they tried to rap along to the music that they had blaring at all hours of the night, when Kagami was _trying_ to sleep, thank you.

Naturally not a fan of conflict, the thought of going straight to his neighbours door and giving them a piece of his mind was not high up on the list of thoughts that brought him joy. But one evening after a long shift at the station, he had had enough.

Almost tripping as his exhausted mind failed to notice the bags of rubbish strewn across his path was one thing, but he could hear from halfway up the stairs the unmistakable racquet that signalled his neighbour was practicing his rapping. Again. Badly. It’s not that he thought he could do a better job of _Rack City_ , it’s just that he was decent enough of a person that he wouldn’t subject the entire complex to it. He was used to this, as much as he was loath to admit it, and he could probably have dealt with that, gone to sleep through the noise; albeit grumpily. What had set him off, really yanked on his last nerve this one evening in particular, was that his neighbour now seemed to be dancing, stomping and knocking over furniture next door, and just - _who even does that_. So Kagami sat on his couch, weary and aggravated, and he thought of how best to approach the issue. He had an idea.

 

\----

 

The next week saw Kagami at the residents association monthly meeting. The heads of the residents association all seemed to be balding, middle aged men, who clearly didn’t live in the shithole he called home, and probably had no idea of what the residents really wanted. But that just meant that hopefully the complaint that he had would draw some support - middle aged guys _hated_ any sort of disturbances, right?

He had been surprised to see his next door neighbour there too, legs sprawled open on one of the cheap metal chairs, arms crossed as he seemed to half doze his way through the meeting. Kagami wondered why he even bothered to be here, if that was all he way going to do. But he supposed it made his life easier; he would have the object of his complaints here in person to respond in the public forum he had attended. Fidgeting slightly on his chair and playing with the hem of his shirt, Kagami almost missed his cue to voice his concerns, but he raised his hand as he noticed the chairman had asked if there was “any other business”.

Once he was motioned to stand and speak, he cleared his throat and began the short speech he had prepared in his head, ignoring the fact he could feel various sets of his neighbours eyes on him.

“It’s, uh, it’s becoming a bother that theres so much garbage around. Like, it’ll be in the stairways or the hallways or whatever and it’s - well - isn’t it like a fire hazard or something?,” he brought a sweaty hand up to the back of his neck, “plus there’s been a lot of noise around. I get that the walls aren’t the thickest, but, uh, surely we should all be being, y’know, considerate of each other? Um, yeah, that’s uh - that’s all I have.”

He sat down heavily, let out a deep sigh and sunk back into his chair. He could play basketball for hours straight, be fine from one 9 hour shift to the next, but public speaking seemed to be what took the heaviest toll on him in his twenties. The shift from English to Japanese back to English always took him a while to accommodate, and this time was no different.

The board of the association seemed at a loss for what to do. Kagami supposed that they didn’t often deal with tenants requests, so he sort of felt bad for them before he realised that actually, it was their job. They looked at each other, before the one second from the right, cleared his throat and asked, “well, does anyone else have any similar complaints?”

Kagami was surprised to see quite a few hands raised in concurrence, and he smiled softly thinking that he had been able to voice something these people hadn't. But the smile dissipated quickly as a snort came from the side where his next door neighbour sat. If he hadn't been paying attention, he may have missed the muttered, “dumbasses” that accompanied the snort, but he was, so he sent the fiercest glare he could muster to the offending party. It was difficult to hold when he realised that wow, his neighbour was a lot more attractive than he had realised, but he held it as best he could.  Apparently the asshole noticed, and he had the decency to look at least _slightly_ ashamed before his face returned to that self satisfied smirk that Kagami was growing to resent. His glower intensified, but then the smug douchebag had the audacity to wink at him, and it was all he could do not to splutter as his face heated to a frankly unreasonable degree before he turned his attention back to the meeting.

It wasn’t that he wasn’t used to America and it’s ways by now, but he had never been able to adjust to the way people seemed to flirt so casually. Especially in situations like this, where clearly the two of them were clearly on different sides and it was totally inappropriate and _why was he still blushing_.

Looking back up to the committee, he found them trying to come to some agreement on what to say. To be honest, he wasn't sure what to expect. Eventually, they seemed to have come to a consensus, as the chairman started to speak.

“As the stairways count as public property, we agree that residents should work together to make sure the area is free from litter. But the area in front of homes could technically be called private property as it’s included in the space you rent, so we've decided that although we can advise people to keep the hallways clear, you may have to speak to your neighbours individually to convince them to take out their trash. About the noise, that may be a matter that you need to deal with personally on a case by case basis with your neighbours. Is there any other business?”

Nobody said anything, so the meeting was adjourned. Kagami was unsure whether the rising feeling of pride at making a difference was winning over the apprehension that he was going to have to face his flirtatious and _devilishly handsome_ neighbour about his habits, but whatever was happening was uncomfortable enough to make him want to bolt straight for his flat. However, once he had waited politely for everyone else to pass him out of the room, he felt an arm reach around his neck and a hand make its home on his shoulder.

“I look forward to you coming to talk to me, _neighbour_ ,” came a deep drawl near his ear, close enough that the warm air of the man's breath tickled behind Kagami's ear. The weight was suddenly off of his shoulders, as a flustered, immobile Kagami watched his smirking neighbour walk out of the room in front of him. He groaned. This wasn't going to be fun.

 

\----

 

He made it a week. Kagami lasted a week, before he found himself in front of his neighbours door, incensed and ready to let rip.

He gave the door a couple of sharp raps, crossing his arms and tapping his feet as he waited. And waited. He knocked on the door again, this time until he heard muffled curses and heavy footsteps make their way to where he was.

A distractingly topless, smug looking neighbour greeted him, messy blue hair sticking up at all angles, waistband of his sweatpants almost dangerously low and - no, Kagami told himself he had to focus.

“Look, I understand you have your life, and you’re free to do whatever the fuck you want to with it, I respect that, hell I work to protect that, but dude, really, please, could you keep it the fuck down, _please_?”

“Am I bothering you?”

“Are you- what the hell do you think? Would I be here right now if you weren’t? Look, I’m sure you’re a perfectly great guy, but you’ve been annoying the hell out of me for the past couple of months so could you please just, I don’t know, _stop_?”

“Okay.”

Okay? Okay? No, no way was it this easy to get this guy to shut up.

“But,” _there it was_ , “you’re gonna have to do something for me.”

He let out an impatient sigh, folding his arms before he rose to the bait. “And what might that be?”

“First of all, what’s your name?”

“Kagami. Well, no, here I’m Taiga.”

“You have to be kidding,” incredulous neighbour leans on his doorframe, mirroring Kagami's crossed arms.

“ _What else do you want_ ,” he all but growled at the man before him.

“Play me. One on one.”

What? Was he hearing right?

“I’ve seen you play basketball on the court a couple blocks from here. You’re good. Play me.”

“...if I do, will you shut up?”

“If you _win_ , I’ll be quiet. If you lose, you have to do something for me.”

“Something like _what_ , exactly?”

His neighbour just winks, and moves to get in position to close his door.

“Wait,” Kagami splays a hand on the guys door, emboldened by his bubbling rage, “what’s your name?”

“Daiki, Daiki Aomine. Meet me tomorrow evening at 6. I’ll bring the ball. I look forward to it, _Taiga_ ,” he drawls, shutting his door.

Kagami simply exhales and shuffles back to his apartment, muttering under his breath how _utterly **fucking** ridiculous_ this is. He can’t seem to keep himself out of trouble.

 

\----

 

His shift ends at 5 the next day, so by the time he reaches his apartment, it’s 5:45 and he doesn’t have time to do much but grumble curses at Daiki before changing and heading straight back out the door.

When he reaches the court, the only figure around is that of Daiki sprawled on the bench by the side of the court. The blue haired menace is asleep, and Kagami groans before unceremoniously dropping the basketball that had found its way under the bench onto the stomach of said sleeping figure. Daiki awakens, startled, and Kagami relishes the look of shock on his face before it melds into familiar smugness.

“Yo, Taiga, you showed.”

“Don’t call me that, Aomine, and of course I showed. Didn’t want to give your dumb ass an excuse to be any louder than it already is.”

“So, you think about my ass a lot?”

“Can we get this over with, please?”

 

\----

 

Kagami is surprised by the challenge his neighbour presents him. He dribbles like the ball never leaves his hand, he shoots like he did nothing else all day, and he evades Kagami surprisingly well. He finds himself working to make baskets for once in who knows how long; and he’s loathe to admit it, but he has to thank his neighbour for this.

They end the game long after sundown, when the score is equal and in the hundreds. They’ve been exchanging trash talk and backhanded compliments during the game, and he smiles at Aomines last comment as he wipes his sweat drenched forehead with the hem of his equally sweat drenched shirt. They sit side by side on the bench, catching their breath.

“So, since no-one won, what do we do now?”

“Well, we could reach an agreement. How about we both get what we want? I’ll keep it down, you give me something I want.”

Kagami eyes him suspiciously before he responds. “Depends what you want, dude. Knowing you I - yeah, I need to know what you want first.”

Aomine snorts, but he agrees. “Go out with me. On a date.”

Kagami splutters on the water he was sipping, trying to cough out a “what”.

“C’mon, I seen you looking at me. And I don’t think you hate me as much as you think you do. So c’mon, one date for my quietness. Whaddya say?”

Kagami is really not sure at all about how he even ended up here, agreeing to a date with the most arrogant and infuriating man he has ever met.

 

\----

 

He finds out, a couple of months short of a year later, that Daiki Aomine is a _filthy liar_ , because he’s back to making ridiculous amounts of noise, but this time in Kagami’s apartment - well, they both live here now, so is it really Kagami’s? - while Kagami is trying to sleep. He just groans and buries his head under a pillow.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how housing associations work in America, or if they even exist, so please just roll with it?


End file.
